Principum Amicitias [ART2015]

Right, so well i was on this bus, a red double-decker in London, and there was a group of student type lads at the back having this rowdy discussion about which was the best Indie band ever, and there were two of them in particular that were stirring up the fuss, looked like twins, unshaven and scruffy, you know typical students, well anyway what was odd about this is that they sort of reminded me of pixies or goblins...

Why was that do you suppose?

I dunno really, just the way they looked i suppose, unshaven and scruffy wearing green bob hats, dark hair and eyes. So they were saying that the best Indie band ever was a group called Principum Amicitias, but nobody else had ever heard of them and when asked what the second best Indie band was they said Abba, so everyone was kicking off with them and calling them retards...

And this disturbed you?

No not at all seemed quite funny, well anyway when pressed on what songs they'd released it turned out none but they'd put together a demo recording of a song called Sub Rosa and on the strength of that a gig, which the twins related as being legendary, thus making them the greatest ever Indie band, apparently the lead singer never showed up, the lighting effects blew up as they had been placed within the drum kit, also shorting all electrics blowing the guitar players off their feet and plunging the pub into darkness, whereupon a mass brawl broke out, as they related this they were rolling about the back seat in hysterics, anyway they said it was all the managers fault or by now everyone would have heard of them.

Interesting, what made this significant to you?

Well in between listening to them and also trying not to i was also messing around with my radio player trying to get the local station and i got this station all sort of crackly but they introduced a song by the title of Sub Rosa, the same one they were going on about.

A curious coincidence, where were you heading at the time?

I don't really recall, when i think back all i see is this side street with a seedy looking Hotel down it illuminated by a Neon sign with no name within it, only the strangely glowing rectangle, i think i was heading back there.

Perhaps trauma induced memory loss, what happened next?

It was several weeks later, Saturday afternoon, and i was in the shopping mall, there seemed to be some sort of promotional activity outside the music store, i headed over and a group of people were there that looked really odd, sort of mentally sub-normal and disturbed acting all kind of crazy, but they were also wearing black t-shirts with a picture on and the name of the band Principum Amicitias, they were drawing attention to themselves and everyone was trying to avoid them when suddenly all the lights in the precinct went out and they seemed to pull out knives and start slashing at themselves and anyone else nearby...that did disturb me.

Of course, so what happened next?

I ran into the music store and was hiding behind the CD racks trying to ignore the screams and hysterics going on outside, until the lights eventually came back on and the police appeared to be outside restoring order, directly in front of me i saw the slot for the musical offerings of Principum Amicitias, there weren't any, just a note tagged onto a card which read 'NEXT SHOW AT THE PARK BAND STAND 6.30 AM', dated to the following Saturday, and the same picture i had seen on the t-shirts.

So you began to see a pattern?

Well yes, and so anyway i'm stood there in a state of shock staring at this card and a young woman walks in, smiling kindly, there seemed something familiar about her, perhaps the voice, introduces herself as Mary Rose, intrepid reporter for the local paper and always first on the scene, asks me if i'd like to answer a few questions, i just hand her the card and mumble something along the lines of 'this is weird...', she agrees and says she'll look into things and get in touch with me later when i'm somewhat recovered, i gave her my number.

She was a reassuring presence then at that troubled moment...?

Sure, she was lovely, anyway Midweek she did get in touch and suggested that maybe we should both go along to the event whatever it was early Saturday morning, i was very reluctant as what had happened haunted my thoughts, but Mary thought it might be the for the better and help put things into perspective, whatever the mystery was she felt i was a part of it.

So in the early morning twilight Saturday morning she picked me up and we drove to the local park, made our way over to the band stand. The audience consisted of just we two, not surprisingly given the time, but from within the stand a marching band struck up a tune strange and cacophonous reminiscent of the same i had heard through my crackling radio, and began to parade from within, majorettes dressed all in black leading the way in a curious jerky style.

So again the orchestration...

Yes, in the manner of their procession around the band stand they sort of reminded me of voodoo practitioners for some weird reason, but having made their circumambulation they approached us and the girl at the head of the troupe bowed graciously and handed me a leaflet, which was another promotional in the same style as the card announcing that band members of Principum Amicitias would be holding a question and answers session in the local library at noon that day.

And so you went along...

We went along, finding the room i wasn't altogether surprised upon entering to see the same two young men that i had first seen upon the bus in London, still dressed in the same clothes it seemed and still in an uproarious mood, they greeted us loudly and warmly.

First thing i asked them of course was what the hell this was all about, they explained that as the founding members of Principum Amicitias even before there was such a thing, that they'd held a press conference with the local reporter, who just happened to have been Mary, as she smilingly acknowledged, and even though they didn't really have a band at the time they'd recorded her voice during the interview and used that remixed on their demo, but not managed to pluck up the courage to actually invite her to join the band, as they were only adolescents back then they explained, but now having matured a little more they not only wanted to formally invite Mary but also myself, as they needed someone who could play the triangle and look pretty...

You must have been taken aback?

You could say that, i asked if murdering people in the shopping mall was really a mature way of going about the recruitment process but they insisted that was all staged, paid for with royalties received on the strength of their demo tape, that their strange ways were about making people feel special and wanted, that this time things would turn out great as long as the manager didn't mess up again, at which point she happened to walk in through the door...

And who was that...?

Why yourself of course.

Cool dream! I love your way of making this a kind of quirky contemporary story. Way awesome, as the kids say...

- AB

a reply to: AboveBoard

Yes it was a dream about how friendship between Princes and Princesses are formed...

Note that for Horace the apparent meaning is just that — “friendships among princes,” not “friendships of princes with other, lesser people.” So if the meaning is in any sense “beware the friendships of princes,” it should mean (in Horatian terms) not beware of friendships with princes, but beware for the state when princes form friendships with one another. It’s certainly a cynical comment on Machiavellian political friendships

Then beware o'weary writers of awakening things best left to slumber
of past deeds, old alliances and principalities torn asunder
For when the sleeper finally awakens this needing
Truth be told Juliet, Romeo is still bleeding...

a reply to: abeverage

The Anunnaki were the original Divine Princes, or those of Princely seed literally translated, so i took the phrase as relating to friendship or love amongst the Anunnaki, and the strange way they go about things.

The root of the ‘amicitias’ is ‘amor’ or, as we would say nowadays, LOVE.

Great story. It's a very different take and I really enjoyed it.

S&F

CdT

a reply to: Kantzveldt
You are one heck of a writer.
Very entertaining and engaging.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

S+F for You! Good Job here!